As I did a few months ago—and in keeping with the theme of my new picture book, We Match!—I recently set out to see how quickly a chat with another author of books for young readers could turn up three things that we have in common. Only this month, I’ve had those conversations with two authors: Martha Brockenbrough (see my separate post) and Antwan Eady.

Like before, I’m pairing this round of How Do WE Match? with a book giveaway to subscribers to my monthly Bartography Express newsletter (folks can sign up here). For my September 2025 drawing, I’m giving away four copies of both Antwan’s new picture book The Gathering Table (Knopf Books for Young Readers), illustrated by London Ladd, and Martha’s newest book.

If you’d like to be one of the winners, by the end of this month either say so in the comments below or contact me directly, and you’ll be in the running. (Subscribers with U.S. mailing addresses only.)

Antwan and I are not total strangers. School visits sponsored by the Texas Book Festival’s Reading Rock Stars program brought us together for the first time this past spring in Dallas–Fort Worth, and during the summer he and I reconnected at the LITapalooza spectacle in Naperville, Illinois, sponsored by Anderson’s Bookshop.

Hopefully, Antwan’s path and mine will cross again this fall in my home city of Austin. But in the meantime, through this conversation conducted via text message (and edited for clarity) let’s find out… How Do WE Match?

Chris Barton: I’m so glad you’re up for this, Antwan! Let’s get started finding out a few things that we have in common.

I’ll ask the first question: Did you collect anything as a kid—and if so, what?

Antwan Eady: Yes! Avid collector of rocks, but my most prized possession was the tail of a horseshoe crab. 

I guess it’s safe to say that I collected water samples, too. Typically from rivers, lakes, and ponds for science fair projects when I was much younger. 

Chris: The things you collected were much more nature-y than mine. I amassed baseball cards, postage stamps, and newspaper clippings having anything to do with Star Wars, but I was especially into collecting data from (i.e. writing down the songs and artists and chart positions in) weekly music countdowns.

Antwan: Now THAT’S cool! One of my brothers collected baseball cards and another collected those booklets that came with CDs back in the day. I remember reading those booklets as a youngin’. Fun times.

I spent majority of my childhood outdoors, so if there was ever a chance to bring nature inside, I was all for it. Haha 

Chris: Still, collecting is collecting, so I’m going to give us that one: We were both collectors!

We lived on a rural lane, with a pasture at the end of the street, and lots of trees all over, and I spent many hours tromping around, or tying up a hammock and listening to baseball games on a little radio, or trying to persuade small animals to live with me for a spell.

Antwan: Now, do I ask the next question or do you? Haha

Chris: Please, ask away!

Antwan: If you had one poem, picture book, or short story to share with the world, what would it be?

Chris: The first poem that comes to mind is called “Nobody Slides, My Friend”:

Except that it’s not exactly a poem, or not only a poem:

It feels like something that many can take comfort in, and that others should pay heed to.

Antwan: Wow! First poem that comes to mind is an awesome one indeed. Thanks for introducing me to it! And you’re right, there’s comfort in listening to Willie Nelson bringing it to life. Makes me even more grateful for the paths I’ve chosen.

Chris: Antwan, is there a poem, or picture book, or short story that you would share?

Antwan: I’d choose a poem as well. “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann. It was gifted to me before I went off to college. Admittedly, I had it on my wall in my dorm and apartment freshman and sophomore year, and I’d read it constantly. But it wasn’t until around my junior year that it made sense all of a sudden. A true “aha” moment.

It’s a lengthy one, but it’s not one of those poems where I can select a stanza and share. Each piece belongs as it serves a purpose for sure.

I guess we match in the way that we’re drawn to poetry here!

Chris: Wow—I had a Desiderata poster gifted to me and hanging on my wall at the exact same period in my life (and in a freshman dorm and then a sophomore apartment, to boot). Another way that we match!

Antwan: What?! Desiderata! I’ve shared it with so many people who were unfamiliar. That’s so cool and so kismet that I’ve found someone today… during this Q&A. Haha

Water, coffee, or tea? If you had to choose only one for the day and could not have the others.

Chris: I could take or leave tea, and I guess I could live without coffee, so it would be water by default. But at least some of that would need to be sparkling, just so I don’t feel like I’m totally depriving myself. How about you?

Antwan: Yes to water! Final answer. Love sparkling, but if it’s just spring water, I’m happy!

Chris: Back to college: Did you return home in the summers, or did you stay in the town where you were going to school?

Antwan: I worked at the university (Clemson University) each summer. For my first summer, I was an Orientation Ambassador and Welcome Leader which is pretty much a group of returning students ushering in new students/representing the university. After that summer, I spent three summers working as a Program Advisor for the Emerging Scholars Program. Emerging Scholars is an outreach program that specifically targets students from public high schools in South Carolina’s low country. These are often underfunded and overlooked schools. It’s designed to increase the number of students who attend and graduate from college, with many of those students becoming first generation college students.

Chris: What rewarding summers those must have been, though I’m sure folks back home missed having you there!

Antwan: How’d you spend your summers?

Chris: I also didn’t move back home for the summer after I started college—it was all-writing-jobs, all-the-time. After my freshman year, I was a reporter for my college newspaper during the summer session. After my sophomore year, I interned at the Houston Chronicle. The summer after that, I was an intern for Texas Monthly (not writing, but supporting a writer and an editor). And the summer after that, since I’d taken the spring semester off for a couple of internships in New York, I was finishing school while also starting to write for the company I’d end up working for until seven years after my first book was published.

And that’s FOUR ways we match: 1) We were kids who collected, 2) we both displayed copies of Desiderata that we’d been gifted, 3) we’d both opt for water over coffee or tea (are you mostly water? because I am…), and 4) neither of us spent our summers home during college.

This was so fun, Antwan—thanks again for doing this with me!

Antwan: This was awesome, Chris! And your summers? Incredible!

Thanks for having me. I’ll see you in Texas soon!

***

Remember, those of you with U.S. mailing addresses: If you’d like to win a copy of Antwan’s new picture book, The Gathering Table, just say so before October 1, 2025, in the comments below or by contacting me directly, and you’ll be a contender. And if you’re not yet a Bartography Express subscriber, I’ll add you to my mailing list so that you’ll be eligible to win!